Evolving Personal Finance » emergency fund
We Didn’t Plan for the NICU
After arriving home from the airport at 10:00 PM, Kyle and I unwound from our baby shower weekend with a snack and a TV show, finally retiring to bed at nearly 1:00 AM. At 2:15 AM, I awoke feeling a bit… wet. I hadn’t experienced urinary incontinence to that point my pregnancy, but I knew it was a common symptom. I went to the toilet and emptied my bladder, but somehow liquid just kept leaking out … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund, parenthood
An Adult-Sized Emergency Fund
Confession time: Until very recently, Kyle and I didn’t have a proper emergency fund. We had some cash on hand and then of course accessible investments (our house down payment and student loan payoff money), but I figured age-30-with-a-Real-Job was time enough to work on that personal finance 101 advice of having a true emergency fund. We’ve let this aspect of our financial life slide for so long because our financial life was rather small and … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund
What to Do About a Large Reimbursable Expense
In May, I went on an interview and incurred some incidental reimbursable costs for food and transportation (my flight and hotel were paid directly by the company). Also in May, Kyle registered for a conference; in June he booked his flight to the conference; in July he paid for his lodging and food at the conference. All of his costs were reimbursable as well, but not until after he returned. My costs were only $85, so … Read entire article »
Filed under: career, emergency fund, savings
The Thinking Person’s Guide to Dave Ramsey: Reasonable Baby Step Modifications
As we discussed in the two prior posts in this series, Dave Ramsey’s (DR’s) program for getting out of debt and building wealth works very well for some people but may be inappropriate for those who don’t agree with all of the underlying principles. The next two posts are intended for people are curious about following the Baby Steps loosely but who want to know what some reasonable modifications may be. In this post, we … Read entire article »
Filed under: choices, debt, emergency fund, giving, goals, psychology, savings
What is the Purpose of an Emergency Fund?
In my last post on emergency funds, I looked at Dave Ramsey’s (and many others’) suggestion of an emergency fund size of three to six months of expenses and calculated what that would be for our current budget ($7,500 to $15,000). But at the end of the post I questioned whether a three to six month emergency fund is really appropriate for us. I am an overthinker, so I have trouble just accepting that we … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund
The 3 to 6 Month Emergency Fund
I can see why people find Dave Ramsey’s baby steps attractive, I really do. As someone who is prone to paralysis of analysis (and whose husband is even more prone), executing an instruction is so much easier than making an informed decision and then carrying it out. While watching week 1 of the FPU videos last week on “super saving,” my thoughts were on that 3-6 month emergency fund. We’ve had $1,000 set aside (baby step … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund
Spend $1600 or Become a One-Car Family?
Irony: My car breaking down the day after writing about our disagreement over carpooling to work! When I published that post on Monday becoming a one-car family seemed a remote possibility, but as of this writing on Tuesday evening we are giving it serious consideration. So much can change in 36 hours! For the last few months, my car has been shaking considerably when its speed exceeds 65 mph. I knew I would eventually need to get … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, cars, choices, emergency fund, targeted savings
Childhood Games Indicating Financial Personality
Kyle has been lobbying for us to get a chess set for several months now so we can play together, and last Friday I finally agreed and we picked one up. We played four games over the next two days and he beat me soundly in every one. I am a bad loser so I was kind of sulking after, and I asked him if he would let our (future) kids win in chess. Then … Read entire article »
Filed under: emergency fund, personal, savings
Emergency Budget Exercise
How would you survive if you lost your primary source of income? The US is (arguably) just starting to rebound from a really tough economy and job market in which we’ve seen more long-term unemployed people than ever before. In addition to the job market, an accident or illness could befall your family rending you unable to work. These are depressing situations to consider, but better to consider them before they happen than to be … Read entire article »
Filed under: budgeting, emergency fund, personal
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